IKEA’s Space10 research lab has developed an idea to connect furniture pieces to an ever-evolving NFT tree that “grows” through nurturing to incentivize people to collect, repair and recycle their stuff.
In Space10 Carbon Banks’ predictive design project, the furniture in question is IKEA’s frozen wooden chair, while non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are virtual artworks of trees that mirror the situation in the space. real life of things
The tree gets bigger and greener the longer the chair is kept. And the plant also reacts when the chair is repaired, resold or exchanged for another piece of furniture. at the end of its useful life The chair can be recycled to encourage the creation of the final image – a picture of flowers in full bloom.
Space10 created a carbon bank in partnership with Berlin studio WINT Design Lab to explore the potential of digital assets such as NFT to create emotional attachments to real-world objects. And it helps us see it as less disposable.
“We know furniture waste is a huge problem,” Space10 creative Ryan Sherman tells Dezeen. “But a piece of wooden furniture can double as a carbon store for decades. with proper care and recycling.”
“In the ever-evolving landscape of NFTs, we see an opportunity to explore this technology as a promising tool for promoting circular behavior.”
with the Carbon Banks, which Space10 is prototyping. The experience begins when someone purchases a new Frostet chair and scans the unique pattern on the seat with their phone.
This operation “builds” their virtual tree. This means that unique digital assets are stored on the blockchain. After that, it can be bought, sold or traded.
Owners will experience this action as the sprouting of a sapling appears to grow from their chair in augmented reality.
If a chair is traded or sold, an NFT is executed and the change of ownership is registered on the blockchain when the new owner scans the chair and the previous owner approves the transfer.
These changes add unique new growth to the tree. as well as repair and maintenance The nature of the tree also depends on the production route of the actual product, such as the type of wood used and the production location.
Creative studio Zünc developed Carbon Bank visuals with the aim of celebrating the beauty of nature. At the same time, it gives the tree a more stylish and “grafted” look, mixing the species chosen for its symbolic relationship with the chair and its story.
“There are branches with oak leaves – nod to the oak veneer of the IKEA frozen chair used in the film,” says Zünc Studio. “The pine needles are digitally trimmed to resemble a bonsai arrangement. Caring and patience”
“And the fern that unfurls after the leg repair is based on the resurrection fern. which feels appropriate.”
While NFTs have developed a reputation for being unsustainable due to the enormous amounts of energy required to power blockchains, Space10 explores how this could change on the Carbon Banks website and in a white paper developed by digital design studio Bakken & Bæck.
The researchers observed a shift to a more robust proof-of-stake protocol. Modeled by blockchains such as Ethereum, energy consumption can be reduced by up to 99.95 percent.
This opens up the possibility of using blockchain for purposes other than speculation and investment, they said.
“The NFT application has evolved over and over again,” Sherman explains. “The first is ‘digital originals’ – one example being Crypto Punks – where collectivism, community and exclusivity are core values.”
“Then we started to see ‘Digital Receipts’: A traceable token of tangible object ownership,” he continued.
“Right now, there’s a lot of digital twin work going on: adding digital manuscripts to your physical objects, like ‘buy sneakers IRL and wear them in virtual space’, not far from the mp3 download code you received, the vinyl record. But mp3s can be unique.”
Space10 positions Carbon Banks as the next generation of NFTs, which the studio is calling “the next generation of NFTs.” It’s called a “digital amplifier” because the technology is designed to “amplify” aspects of a physical object.
“Digital amplifiers are linked to physical objects via blockchain and complement the connected items. Visualize history of objects our relationship with objects and encourage new behaviors,” Sherman said.
“It presents a unique moment in the transition from financial incentives to caregiving. where digital objects visualize and reward sustainable behavior in our real world. create opportunities for a new digital presence.”
Space10 is a research and design lab in Copenhagen that works with the IKEA brand. Issues of sustainability and circularity are often addressed with ideas, prototypes and products, covering everything from open-source Bee Homes to furniture that uses artificial intelligence to tell owners how to improve.
The studio has also worked with architecture studio EFFEKT on a subscription-based integrated housing proposal called The Urban Village Project, which will bring people from different generations to life. come together with shared facilities
